Initially driven by school consolidation and later augmented by the mandate to desegregate, school busing systems have grown monumentally all over the United States. Busing policy choices have been made and expanded without regard to the impact on the central enterprise of schools, which is student learning. Anecdotes from Montana, the Navajo…

Reviews the issues which turned congressional efforts away from implementing school desegregation toward directly opposing it, focusing especially on the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1972. (JM)

Discusses geoprocessing, a computer mapping technique used by the Portland (Oregon) School District in which geographic analysis and data processing are combined. Several applications for administrative decision-making are discussed, including bus routing and redistricting. (JJD)

In 1991, the New Jersey Association of School Business Officials was selected as a nontraditional provider and asked to develop and implement a new state-approved certification program. The idea was to produce administrators who are adept at strategic planning, financial management and accounting, school law, personnel management, facility…

A special report on school transportation covers the following topics: (1) a school bus safety update; (2) equipping school buses with motion detectors; (3) state training requirements for school bus drivers; (4) recruiting and retaining drivers; (5) regulations covering underground fuel-storage tanks; and (6) a transportation directory. (MLF)

In Fox River Grove, Illinois, 7 teenagers were killed the morning of October 25, 1995, when a 620-ton commuter train crashed into the rear end of their school bus. School, transportation, and safety officials have focused on three areas: train crossings and signals, bus-driver training, and school-bus construction. Lists 10 vital lessons for…

Outsourcing of school services creates a need for educators to learn how best to select a contractor. Contracted student transportation is used to illustrate flexibility and creativity in writing a request for proposal, the evaluation process, and the importance of contractors' willingness to work alongside the district as a genuine business…

Preventing accidents in the first place should be the goal of school transportation directors. To do this, and limit liability, a district must (1) have a strong driver-training program; (2) check drivers' records and references; (3) provide and record maintenance of the bus fleet; and (4) spell out operating and training opportunities in…

Study of how busing time to school affected daily activities in 64 rural households in Eastern Townships School Board, Quebec (Canada), found that household schedules altered according to distance from school, constraints on students' and families' activities increased as travel time increased, travel time was viewed as wasted time, and farm…

With the state facing lawsuits over school funding, the Joint Interim Subcommittee on School Funding of the Montana Legislature recommended establishing guaranteed tax base aid to schools. The subcommittee made the recommendations in November 1992 to the 53rd Legislature. The legislation, LC 36, would equalize funding for school district facility…

Evidence suggests that self-care among school-age children has significant costs to the children, in the form of increased fearfulness and loneliness, heightened vulnerability to peer pressure, and greater likelihood of substance abuse. In response to the need for quality school-age care, this book serves as a guide for anyone wanting to implement…

A follow-up report on the California State University's Contra Costa Center, a proposed permanent off-campus center, is presented. The California Postsecondary Education Commission approved the original proposal in 1987, contingent on finding solutions to concerns about transportation access and services to disadvantaged students. The university…

Intended to help produce safe, competent California school bus drivers, this document contains instructor's materials for a bus driver education course with eight sequential skill levels, including a final appraisal. The first section contains the curriculum's purpose and objectives, the California standards for a state-certified bus driver…

The legal aspects of pupil transportation are examined, including the liability of various factions for transportation decisions and the duty of school districts to provide adequate transportation. Discussed are court decisions dealing with such complex topics as transportation of special education students, transportation for purpose of…

The Oxnard School District initiated a Year Round Education (YRE) program beginning in 1976. In 1984 the district maintained eleven YRE schools and four traditional schools. All the YRE schools are on a 60-20 plan with four staggered YRE tracks and a fifth track offering a traditional school year calendar. This cost analysis outlines how the…